Mark Burnett does drama with "Eden" on NBC

‘EDEN,’ DYNAMIC ONE-HOUR SCRIPTED DRAMA FROM PRODUCER MARK BURNETT, LANDS IN BRAVE NEW WORLD OF NBC

Burnett Teams with Oscar-nominated Writer Douglas Day Stewart for New Character-Adventure Series About Shipwrecked Castaways

BURBANK – January 21, 2004 – NBC and Mark Burnett (NBC's "The Apprentice," "The Restaurant," "Survivor," "Eco-Challenge," "The Casino") have teamed up for "Eden," a new scripted, character-adventure drama series targeted for the 2004-05 season, it was announced today by Jeff Zucker, President, NBC Entertainment, News and Cable Group.

Written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart ("An Officer and a Gentleman" ), "Eden" is a one-hour, limited series focusing on a varied group of people who are shipwrecked on a remote island.

"I am excited to be furthering my relationship with NBC and to work with a legendary screenwriter like Douglas," said Burnett. "NBC allows me the freedom to be creative and to think differently and I hope we can bring a fresh look to the current crop of television dramas. This series will be shot in an exotic, remote island location, similar to a feature film, which will make it a powerful television event."

Added Stewart: "It's exciting for me to come to television with NBC and Mark Burnett who is a force of nature and one of the brightest and most creative people I've ever met. With this dramatic scripted show, we'll be reinventing television."

"Eden" centers around a group of young people from a mosaic of wildly different backgrounds who are thrown together on a summer study cruise that goes horribly wrong during a major storm. After being marooned, they have to re-build their own world on a remote island.

The drama unfolds as the characters deal with the fact that their status in the past has nothing to do with the status in the new world. And in a twist, there is one person on the island who should never have been on the cruise to begin with and has a dark secret.

"Eden" was originally conceived as a feature film by Stewart and Burnett, and later was developed for television. Burnett serves as executive producer. Conrad Riggs will serve as executive producer for Mark Burnett Productions.

Burnett and Riggs are currently in discussions with major corporate sponsors for organic and thematic tie-ins with the new series.